Avalanche announce Stadium Series, unveil jersey

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During a press conference this morning at Coors Field in Denver, the NHL announced the second 2016 Stadium Series game and the Colorado Avalanche unveiled the special sweater they will wear.

We also got our first good look at Colorado's Stadium Series logo — which is similar to Minnesota's apart from the color scheme and landscape scene across the top of the mark.

The Avs' sweater is the first of four Stadium jerseys to be unveiled for the 2015-16 season. Their opponent will be the Red Wings, whose Stadium crest design recently leaked, but their jersey was not revealed.

From the NHL via the press release:

As they did during the height of the rivalry with the Red Wings, the Avalanche, as the home team, will feature white as the main color of the jersey; a connection to the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies.
The C puck mark becomes a powerful front crest, an unmistakable reference to Colorado hockey.
Streamlined sleeve striping connects to the bold visual of the Avalanche stripe, part of the team’s socks since 1995. The modern styled collar features a 5,280 call out, referencing the Avalanche’s home in the Mile-High City.

I'm not sold on the "5280" on the collar, but I am intrigued by the reasoning for the sleeve striping. I think this might be the first time an NHL jersey had sleeve stripes inspired by sock stripes.

Despite that, overall, this is a weak sweater design and rather off-brand for the Avalanche. I understand the attempts to move the identity forward, but this may have been a step in the wrong direction.

Every image I've seen so far suggests the circle in the middle of the "C" on the crest is black and not navy blue as it is on the shoulder patches. But that tracks with the quote above which describes it as a "C puck" — which would be black, right?

It also seems the enormous sleeve numbers are here to stay for the Stadium Series. Is it me or do they seem bigger than last year?

It's interesting that this sweater is not too far off from being a white version of the new third jersey — which also leaked recently but has not yet been made official.

They're really going all out with the new "C puck", by the way. We now know it will be featured prominently on all four of the team's jerseys during the season. I just hope they don't see fit to replace the "A" with it anytime soon.

What do you think of the Avs' first attempt at a Stadium Series sweater?